Phan Khoi and the modernization of Vietnamese literature in the first half of the 20th century

4.2. Research method: Establishing the approach to Phan Khoi's literary activities as above will determine the main methods to solve the topic: literary history method, typological method and interdisciplinary method.

- Historical literary method : The thesis will place Phan Khoi's literary and journalistic activities in the process of modernizing Vietnamese literature in the first half of the 20th century, and at the same time analyze the impact of historical, cultural and social contexts on Phan Khoi's viewpoints, creative thoughts, and academic spirit.

- Typological method : Based on the common characteristics of the model of intellectuals - reformist artists in the transitional period of Vietnamese society to analyze and explain Phan Khoi's academic activities.

- Interdisciplinary method : Using and combining knowledge of modern social sciences and humanities to analyze and explain more satisfactorily Phan Khoi's outstanding and diverse contributions to the modernization of Vietnamese literature in the first half of the 20th century.

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In addition, historical literary phenomena also have their own requirements, depending on the specific research purpose of each topic, so in the case of Phan Khoi, the issue of literary modernization also requires in-depth analysis of the main genre forms (poetry, prose), so the suggestions of poetics theory (historical poetics, genre poetics) and narratology (narrator, narrator, text) will be necessary for the process of analyzing and explaining the problem. In addition, in the process of implementing the research topic, we also concretize the above methods with a number of operations, such as: comparison, synthesis and

analysis

5. New scientific contributions of the thesis

- Comprehensively study Phan Khoi's contributions as a pioneer in the modernization of Vietnamese literature in the first half of the 20th century.

- Contribute to accurately assessing Phan Khoi's literary historical position in the development of Vietnamese literature.

- Provides reference materials on Vietnamese literature in the first half of the 20th century and author Phan Khoi.

6. Theoretical and practical significance of the thesis

6.1. Theoretical significance

- The thesis contributes to a more complete assessment of the path of modernization of national literature, adding another voice to the study of the regularity and specificity of the historical development of a period.

- Applying some suggestions of paradigm theory and discourse concept when studying Phan Khoi's works in the context of Vietnam's modernization in the first half of the 20th century, the thesis will be a positive affirmation for introducing these theories into the practice of Vietnamese literary history, and at the same time, there may be certain proposals or adjustments to the framework of those theories.

6.2. Practical significance

- The results of the thesis will contribute to clarifying some comments and assessments that are either incorrect or too harsh about Phan Khoi. The research results will be a reference source for "restoring" other cases of forgotten authors in Vietnamese literature.

- Modernization is a special lesson for national development in general, therefore, this will also be a reference for Vietnam's current globalization situation.

7. Structure of the thesis

In addition to the Introduction , Conclusion , and References , the main content of the thesis is developed into four chapters:

Chapter 1: Overview of research situation

Chapter 2: Phan Khoi - from the desire for social reform to cultural and literary activities

Chapter 3: Phan Khoi and the renewal of Vietnamese poetry

Chapter 4: Phan Khoi's narrative prose among Vietnamese narrative forms in the early 20th century

In principle, the positioning of Phan Khoi in the process of modernizing Vietnamese literature needs to be carried out in the main areas, which are criticism and literary creation. Chapters 3 and 4 of the thesis carry out the task of examining and evaluating Phan Khoi in the formation of the two most important forms of modern literature, namely new poetry and prose, that is, positioning Phan Khoi in the scope of creation. Phan Khoi's critical status in literary activities will be placed in chapter 2, without being designed as a separate chapter, because in reality, Phan Khoi always debated and criticized through the press and he was not dedicated to literature, literature only became Phan Khoi's concern when it contained or was related to the issues of social reform and ideological reform that he was advocating. In other words, the thesis places Phan Khoi's literary criticism status in the capacity of Phan Khoi's social and ideological critic.

CHAPTER 1

OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH SITUATION

Phan Khoi was a particularly enthusiastic writer in the life of journalism, literature, and Vietnamese culture in the early years of the 20th century. Particularly in the history of Vietnamese literature, Phan Khoi occupies a special position. However, for some reasons, the approach and study of his works are quite reserved. Even for a long time (more than thirty years), Phan Khoi suffered heavy losses in career and dignity. However, when the political prejudices passed, Phan Khoi returned and became an attractive topic of discussion.

1.1. Status of collection and restoration of Phan Khoi heritage

Phan Khoi's writings were quite diverse and rich, but before 1945, his main activity was journalism, so most of his works were published in newspapers. And because journalism is a form of information, besides the advantage of updating and serving immediately, this type of writing also suffered a "short-lived" fate, and Phan Khoi's articles were no exception. Besides, due to his later views on literature and art (during the Nhan Van Giai Pham period , 1955-1956), Phan Khoi was isolated and not allowed to publish his articles, so not only did Phan Khoi pass away very quietly (1959), but most of his legacy was forgotten in the literary and artistic life, especially in the North.

At this point, looking back, we can see that Phan Khoi's publications published during his lifetime include:

- In 1936, the work Chuong Dan thi thoai by Phan Khoi, excerpted from his talks on poetry in Nam am thi thoai published in the newspapers Nam Phong magazine , Dong Phap Times , Than Chung , Phu Nu Tan Van , Trung Lap Bao from 1918-1931. In 1996, Da Nang Publishing House reprinted this book.

- In 1939, Tan Dan Publishing House (Hanoi) published the social novel Turning the Fire Out .

- In 1950, most of Phan Khoi's research articles on Vietnamese during his time working at the Language and Literature Department of the Vietnam Cultural Association were collected and published in a book titled Research in Vietnamese . Later, Phan Khoi revised and added some content to the book Research in Vietnamese and changed its name to Research in Vietnamese (printed and published by Van Nghe Publishing House in 1955). In 1977, this work was reprinted by Da Nang Publishing House. In this reprint, Professor Hoang Tue commented and highly appreciated Phan Khoi's research work on this language and suggested that "it should be included in the bookcases of current linguistic researchers, especially university students of the Faculty of Literature" [71, p. 13]. This can be considered as an exploration for the restoration of Phan Khoi's legacy later.

- In 1956, Van Nghe Publishing House, Hanoi published Phan Khoi's translated works: Lu Xun's Anthology of Miscellaneous Writings ; Psalms , Proverbs , Song of Songs (chapters from the Protestant Bible)...

Thanh Lang, in his two works Literary Criticism of the 1932 Generation (1967) and Thirteen Years of Literary Debate 1932-1945 (1972), had remarkable achievements in searching for Phan Khoi's journalistic heritage, focusing on the newspaper Phu Nu Tan Van (1929-1934). Thus, Thanh Lang was the one who made the first contribution in restoring part of Phan Khoi's journalistic heritage.

In the North, since the Nhân văn giai phẩm case, Phan Khôi was hidden behind the curtain of history. This situation only changed after 1986, but the removal of prejudice was quite slow. In ten years, from 1986 to 1996, only 2 publications of Phan Khôi ( Vietnamese language research , Chapter Dan poetry ) were brought back to cultural and literary activities, and those were also works

not very edgy, and less representative of his personality and understanding.

In 1998, Tao Dan magazine (complete set of 2 volumes) collected and selected by Nguyen Ngoc Thien and Lu Huy Nguyen also included 6 articles written by Phan Khoi in 1939 such as: "Introduction to Chinese literature in our country", "Vietnamese people with scientific minds (about classification)", "Proverbs, folk songs and their position in literature", "I and poet Tan Da", "A still dark and weak view of the universe: Confucius is neither materialistic nor idealistic", "Rhyme and poetry". These articles were included by Lai Nguyen An in the collection of Phan Khoi's works published in newspapers from 1938-1942 , published in 2017.

Thus, thanks to the efforts of Thanh Lang, Nguyen Ngoc Thien, and Lu Huy Nguyen, a number of published works, especially Phan Khoi's literary essays, were rediscovered and published to readers. However, the number was not large, and it was only when researcher Lai Nguyen An published a series of collection results that the "restoration" of Phan Khoi's legacy really began. It is a set of 10 books, collecting Phan Khoi's journalistic works from 1928 to 1942 according to the year of publication, specifically as follows:

- Phan Khoi's work published in 1928 , published by Da Nang Publishing House in 2003, includes 450 pages of articles Phan Khoi published in Dong Phap Times in Saigon, often signed with the pen name CD (abbreviation of his pen name Chuong Dan), sometimes K., Kh., in the Daily Stories section , Phan Khoi and Diep Van Ky jointly signed the pen names Tan Viet, TV

- Phan Khoi's work was published in 1929 , also by the House.

Published in Da Nang in 2005 with 800 pages, a collection of articles by Phan Khoi published in the daily newspapers Than Chung , Trung Lap and the weekly newspaper Phu Nu Tan Van in Saigon in 1929.

- Phan Khoi's works published in 1930 (Da Nang Publishing House, 2006), including 1010 pages focusing on Phan Khoi's writings in

In 1930, he was associated with the newspapers Than Chung, Trung Lap, Phu Nu Tan Van in Saigon, and Pho Thong in Hanoi.

- Phan Khoi's work published in 1931 was published by the Writers' Association Publishing House.

Published in 2006, it includes 1030 pages of Phan Khoi's 1931 articles, mainly from the following newspapers: Trung Lap daily newspaper and Phu Nu Tan Van weekly newspaper in Saigon, and Dong Tay weekly newspaper in Hanoi.

A series of Phan Khoi's published works in the following years were collected by Lai Nguyen An and published by Tri Thuc Publishing House:

- Phan Khoi's works published in newspapers in 1932 (2007), a collection of works by journalist and scholar Phan Khoi (1887 - 1959) published in newspapers in 1932 such as East-West in Hanoi, Neutrality and Women's New Literature in Saigon.

- Phan Khoi's works published in newspapers 1933-1934 (2010), a collection of Phan Khoi's articles in the last few months of the period when he lived and worked most effectively as a journalist in Saigon (1927 - 1933), plus more than a year when he moved to Hanoi to work as a journalist, before returning to Hue to practice. During this time, his journalistic activities were mainly associated with the newspapers Trung Lap , Phu Nu Tan Van and Cong Luan (Saigon), Thuc Nghiep Dan Bao and Phu Nu Thoi Dam (Hanoi).

- Phan Khoi's works published in newspapers in 1935 (2011), a collection of Phan Khoi's articles in 1935, mostly focused on the Trang An newspaper in Hue; this was the second newspaper that Phan Khoi ran as editor-in-chief. If with the Phu Nu Thoi Dam newspaper from 2 years before (1933-1934), his management as editor-in-chief was somehow limited to the nature of a social and cultural weekly, then with the Trang An newspaper , a daily newspaper (although published only twice a week) with comprehensive content, first and foremost on current political and social issues, the role of editor-in-chief was a responsibility that Phan Khoi experienced for the first time in his career as a journalist.

- Phan Khoi, works published in newspapers in 1936 (2012), a collection of articles,

Article written during the time Phan Khoi was editor-in-chief of the Saturday weekly newspaper

Perfume River in Hue (from August 1, 1936 to March 27, 1937).

- Phan Khoi's works published in newspapers in 1937 (2013), a collection of Phan Khoi's articles in 1937 associated with two newspapers: Song Huong in Hue and Dong Duong Tap Chi in Hanoi. He continued to be editor-in-chief of Song Huong weekly for 11 more issues, after which Song Huong temporarily stopped selling the license to the communist group Phan Dang Luu and Nguyen Cuu Thanh. Returning to his hometown in Quang Nam for a short time, he and his young wife lived in Hue (time points are unknown) and then went to Saigon, teaching at Chan Thanh private school.

- Phan Khoi's works published in newspapers 1938-1942 (2017), a collection of articles

Phan Khoi's journalism in the years 1938-1942 was associated with a number of newspapers such as: Dong Duong magazine, Thoi Vu, Du Luan, Ngay Nay, Tao Dan, Pho Thong Ban Thon San ( in Hanoi), Dan Bao (in Saigon).

This is a huge collection of Phan Khoi's journalistic works (more than 1,000 valuable articles in Phan Khoi's journalistic career) from 1928 to 1942 - the period when Phan Khoi was most prolific in the Vietnamese press. Evaluating Phan Khoi, Thanh Lang said: "Most of Phan Khoi's career is still scattered on newspapers. Perhaps the most quintessential things about him, the most agile things about him, the most humorous things about him, the "most Phan Khoi" in him... seem to have not been published in books but are still hidden under stacks of newspapers" [82, p. 260]. Lai Nguyen An certainly agrees with Thanh Lanh's point of view, so he has spent a lot of effort to collect Phan Khoi's articles.

The results of collecting and compiling Phan Khoi's writings are a valuable source of information, the beginning of systematic research on a scholar and an author. This professional work of Lai Nguyen An is highly appreciated by Nguyen Quan, considered as the "restoration" of an excellent and responsible restorer: "More than seven thousand pages of books are processed word by word, punctuation by period

Phan Khoi and the modernization of Vietnamese literature in the first half of the 20th century - 2

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